Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch

Welcome toAfrica Great Lakes Democracy Watch Blog.Our objective is to promote the institutions of democracy,social justice,Human Rights,Peace, Freedom ofExpression, and Respect to humanity in Rwanda,Uganda,DR Congo, Burundi,Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya,Ethiopia, and Somalia. We strongly believe that Africa will develop if only our presidents stop being rulers of men and become leaders of citizens. We support Breaking the Silence Campaign for DR Congo since we believe the democracy in Rwanda means peace inDRC. Follow this link to learn more about the origin of the war in both Rwanda and DR Congo:http://www.rwandadocumentsproject.net/gsdl/cgi-bin/library

Thursday, July 26, 2012

RWANDA:Dutch donors suspend aid to Rwanda

By Jenny Clover and Thomas Escritt Comment on this story Kigali/Amsterdam -
The Netherlands has suspended five million euros in aid to Rwanda
over its reported support for rebels in Congo, a spokesperson said on
Thursday, hours after Kigali said a similar move by the United States
was regrettable and would be proved wrong. The Dutch reaction to a
report from United Nations experts saying Kigali was backing insurgents
in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo follows Washington’s
$200 000 cut in military aid at the weekend. A spokesperson for the
Dutch foreign ministry said the suspended aid was to have been used for
improving Rwanda’s judicial system and that support to non-governmental
organisations would continue. The Dutch government would discuss future
aid to Rwanda with other European Union governments and resumption would
require an immediate end to Rwandan support for rebels in Congo, she
said. Kigali did not immediately respond to the Dutch move but Rwanda
has regularly denied having any link to eastern Congolese rebels and
said earlier on Thursday that the US move had been “regrettable” and
based on a flawed report. “It would have been better for the US or any
other of our partners to actually take a decision based on clear
evidence, not on allegations,” Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said.
The US cut was seen as a significant shift in policy because Washington
has stood by Rwanda in the past despite the tiny nation’s long history
of involvement in wars in its vast, unstable neighbour since a 1994
genocide. Asked if the military aid cut had damaged relations with the
United States, Mushikiwabo said: “I don’t think so.” Clashes between the
Congolese army and M23 rebels have forced thousands of people to flee
their homes in the last 48 hours, adding to 260 000 people already
displaced since April. Mushikiwabo also brushed aside a report in
Britain’s Guardian newspaper that a US official had warned Rwanda’s
leaders they could face prosecution at the International Criminal Court
for arming groups responsible for atrocities in the Congo. “Let’s just
take the wildest guess and say that the US government actually does
believe that (the leaders might be charged). They wouldn’t announce it
through a journalist. That’s not how the US government functions,” she
said. “There is no truth to that. Not only is there no truth to that but
it also shows how people are just going wild with this whole Congo
thing.” The UN experts accused high-ranking Rwandan officials of backing
the Congolese rebels with arms, ammunition and supplies but Mushikiwabo
said Rwanda had no reason to support an uprising in a neighbouring
country. Rwandan officials had met the authors of the UN report in
Kigali to give their side of the story, she said. The report’s final
version is due to be released around November. “We went through each one
of them carefully, every single allegation, and gave our own rebuttal… I
think when the report becomes final in November it should be very clear
that this interim report was just a compilation of allegations, a lot
of fabrications,” she said. “What does a photo of a uniform prove? I can
get a uniform sewn here in Kigali any time and put it in a report. So
what I think is that this report is very superficially plausible but
people really need to look at it.” The M23 rebellion takes its name from
a 2009 peace accord the rebels say was violated by Kinshasa. It has
been swelled by hundreds of defectors from the Congolese army who walked
into the bush in support of fugitive Congolese General Bosco Ntaganda,
wanted by the ICC on war crimes charges. – Reuters

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